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Midwife who caused newborn baby to fall on floor guilty of misconduct

A midwife who caused a newborn baby to fall to the floor when she moved its cot and used a bed-bound patient’s deodorant has been found guilty of misconduct.

Diana Warwick, 56, went to the patient’s bag when she was recovering from an emergency caesarean section at the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, Cumbria.

The woman dubbed ‘Britain’s worst midwife’ grabbed the aerosol and said she had not used one that day as she sprayed it into her armpits, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard.

Then she put her shoes up on the chair and polished them with wipes intended for the patient’s bed bath.

Warwick was also found guilty of letting the newborn baby fall onto the floor at a misconduct hearing in central London, as well as over 30 other allegations of misconduct and incompetence.

She caused the baby to fall out of a plastic cot during a shift in September 2005 as she dragged the cot across the ward with the child still inside.

NMC panel chairman Andrew Coleman told Warwick: “The panel accepted that the cause of this accident was carelessness rather that a deliberate action. However, you were grossly negligent.

“The risks were obvious and easily avoided. The potential consequences were very serious and could have resulted in harm to the baby.”

Addressing her use of the deodorant and using wet wipes on her shoes, Mr Coleman said: “You overstepped the professional boundaries between a nurse and a patient, which the panel considers was unprofessional and unacceptable.”

The midwife also attached an electric heart rate monitor to a woman in a birthing pool, rather than a water-safe version, and put her face next to a woman in labour before shouting; ‘push!’

Mr Coleman added: “The panel takes a serious view of your shortcomings in this respect. It is self-evident that it is not safe to use a mains-powered device for a woman in labour in water.”

Warwick had also been fined £160 for driving without insurance at Whitehaven Magistrates’ Court in June 2006, and banned from the road for six months.

Mr Coleman added: “There is no information before the panel of any steps you have taken to address the deficiencies identified and to reduce the risk of recurrence.

“Indeed, you told the panel that you had not taken any training since the events in question.

“On the evidence before it, the panel is also concerned that you have demonstrated no insight into your limitations as a nurse. In these circumstances, the panel is concerned that there is a risk of repetition of the failings identified and therefore a risk of harm to patients.

“In addition, you have shown no remorse to this panel for your actions.”

Warwick, 56, was granted an adjournment to prepare mitigation, in an attempt to avoid being struck off.

The midwife told the NMC hearing that she had booked a train for 4.30pm from London and would not stay unless the council paid for a hotel room.

Mr Coleman granted the adjournment until June 7, saying it was in the interest of fairness.

He told Warwick: “You must use this time to prepare papers, and alert the NMC to any witnesses you may wish to call.”

Warwick claims the NMC has treated her unfairly, describing the tribunal process as a ‘merry-go-round’.